This Week:
- What is looks like when your phone decides to randomly stop working.
- My FIRST TIME eating dinner outside of the hostel in 42 days.
- Getting surrounded by a pack of angry dogs while on a run.
December 2023
| Su | M | T | W | Th | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 12/1 | 2 |
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
| 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| 31 | 1/1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
Where In The World Was I?
- Canggu, Bali, Indonesia
Pictures From The Week
Walks, runs, and (attempting to do) exploring:
The random street ceremony:
Metrics At A Glance
Finally figured out how to not include today (Sunday) in the Whoop screenshots lol
If you’re wondering why there’s 2 different screenshots for the YouTube screen time or what happened to exercising Wednesday and Thursday… just uh, keep reading 😅
Business Updates
I sent my first little initial analytics report to the first blogger that I set up analytics for this week! It wasn’t intended to be my “end product” report, but I went for delivering a quick and early “win.”
I also got another blogger set up with my analytics!
So we’re at 2 bloggers with my analytics running, and 1 other that said they were interested but hasn’t set it up yet.
Other than that, I sent 9 free offer emails to new bloggers.
This week I moved my focus to what I believe is the biggest constraint right now: finding leads.
I started working with my brother on coding a script/tool that uses OpenAI’s API and Bing’s/Google’s search API to find travel bloggers automatically rather than doing searches manually. I created+ran the first step and I now have a list of ~1200 websites! Not all are specifically travel blogs, but that’s a pretty good start!
I did some thinking about this in Honey (see later in the post) and it got my creative juices flowing. Maybe I’ll share that another time.
The Phone Fiasco
Brief context:
I have a Google Pixel 6 Pro. A couple months ago I noticed this black “notch” in the upper left of my screen. I figured I had dropped it, but I wasn’t sure.
Then, a couple weeks ago, all of a sudden whenever my phone’s brightness was low, the screen would turn this light green color. It was definitely not right, but it still functioned, so I passed it off.
Then it reverted back to normal, no green tint, for like 3 weeks?
Then it randomly came back. But again, harmless.
UNTIL this week, when just randomly, I picked up my phone and the screen turned FULL bright green. I could barely read the text on the screen, but it still worked. Then the green faded into yellow.
I turned into full panic mode trying to fix it. The screen still worked, but it was pretty much unusable because I couldn’t actually see what was on the screen.
I spent the next 3 hours trying to figure out what’s going on and how to fix it.
Then the yellow went away and it just turned back to normal 🤦♂️
I took a break, had lunch, watched some YouTube, then the top of the screen turned FULL white and started flickering. It started “bleeding” down to the top third of the phone.
I started to panic.
The back of the phone started getting hot, so I quickly shut it off. It all happened within 20 seconds.
“Welp, looks like my phone’s broken… now what?”
I spent the next day searching for solutions and figuring out what to do next.
The next morning I turned my phone back on to see what the status was…
And it just looked like normal 🤦♂️ That is, until the auto-brightness turned up, then the top of the screen started flickering white again. But the rest of the screen worked.
So basically, to summarize: the screen still works, but when the brightness is high, the top 1/3 of the screen (mainly) goes white and flickers, and when the brightness is low, it turns green.
Here’s what it looked like:
⚠️ FLASH WARNING ⚠️
After a bunch of research, I ended up deciding to go to the Beachwalk Mall in Denpasar to buy a new burner phone.
I booked a Grab and on my way over, the bike driver turned out to be this diehard Patriots fan who had lived in the U.S. for 20 years! We ended up chatting the whole ride!
Package acquired:
I got a Samsung Galaxy A05 with 128GB of storage for $108 and a 30 day SIM card for $11.
To be honest I didn’t realize they sold phones this cheap. They had options for ~$77 (and cheaper!), but I decided to “splurge” and not get the absolute bottom of the barrel phone. It runs all the same apps I had.
I’ve had a Google Pixel phone for the last something like 6 years? I wasn’t really sure what difference buying a non-Google phone would make. The answer? This is literally the only differences I’ve noticed:
- it’s not as zippy
- the camera isn’t as good
- it has 128GB vs 512GB on my Pixel
That’s literally it.
Kinda makes me question why I spent 10x the price (~$1000 for my Pixel 6 Pro) on a phone that’s 1. marginally more fast, 2. has a better camera, 3. has a bit more storage, but is otherwise the same… 🤔🤔🤔
Traffic getting back was absolute craziness. White knuckling holding on as the driver accelerates, driving into the oncoming traffic lane to get around cars 😂😂 What an adventure!
And so where are we at now?
~24hrs later I’m fully back up and running like nothing ever happened.
It made me think back to when I was back in the U.S. doing my preparations before flying out to Europe this past summer.
These were literally 2 of my tasks from my travel planning document:
- “Make sure everything from phone is backed up and I’m not f*cked if I lose it.”
- “Assume my phone is stolen, what do I do (remote wipe? “revoke access” on google myaccount), and what’s the bare min I need to redownload (e.g. google auth, google voice, etc.)”
And boy am I grateful I thought about that. I have pretty much everything backed up. It feels good to be so flexible.
Fortunately I could still use my Pixel to do all the data transfers to the new phone, but this felt like a little “shot across the bow.”
So to past Peter, thank you immensely.
And to future Peter, I’ve created a “new phone startup guide” so that the next time this happens you know exactly what to do 🙃
It Finally Happened 😍
Well BEFORE my phone screen decided to blow up, I had started thinking about moving hostels. With that in mind, I decided to start exploring some restaurants in the area!
So after 42 DAYS in a row of eating dinner at Tribal (excluding 2 lunches for socializing), I ate out for the FIRST time *crowd erupts in applause* Yes yes I know, it’s quite a momentous week.
Dinner at ARTE
This pizza may have been the best pizza I’ve ever had in my entire life. That dough/crust was unbelievable.
The carbonara pasta was decent, I think it needed a bit more “oomph” (salt?)
The tiramisu was amazing (though I had nothing to compare it to)
Price: 360,000 subtotal + 57,600 tax/service = 417,600 IDR ($26.90)
Dinner at Zali
This was the night I turned my phone off assuming it was completely dead.
<insert your imagination of Lebanese food – tabbouleh, falafel, and saj>
Eh, it was decent, definitely appreciated something different, but nothing knock-your-socks-off level like I heard from other people.
Price: ~425,000 IDR ($27.38)
Side note: Yes I ordered a lot, but I was told (and endlessly teased) that eating out is significantly cheaper than this hostel. My response: what are you SMOKIN’ brother 🤨 I think I’m just salty 😅
Brunch at Honey
This was a fun one, sitting at the middle table around all these Instagram influencer model-like girls, just… reading on my Kindle 😄
Also, those protein pancakes very confidently knocked me out for the next 3 hours. I just felt like sleeping. Carb crash validated.
Price: 290,000 IDR ($18.68)
These 🤬 Dogs…
Let me first set the scene…
There are dogs everywhere here. On my ~8 minute run to the gym I’ll usually pass by maybe 6? Most of the don’t have collars (stray?), some do.
Some just sit on the steps of houses chillin, some trot along the road, some dig through the trash to find food. They’re everywhere.
My impression was that they’re all harmless, just doin’ their own thing.
But things changed this week.
Over the past couple weeks there have been a couple moments that have accumulated…
- One run to the gym I saw two dogs around some piece of trash (I don’t remember), then one started attacking the other and bit its neck. They wrestled for a couple seconds, then the second dog ran away whimpering.
- One morning I was at the beach and there was this pack of 5 dogs trotting along the beach. 2 of them ran together, with 3 behind. In the back all of a sudden this black dog started attacking this brown dog. A split second later, as if given an instinctual cue, the other black dog ganged up and they both started aggressively biting at the brown dog. They fought, biting each other, barking, and running around for a good couple minutes before they eventually stopped. The pack continued and I could see blood in the mouth of the brown dog.
Betrayal
But it all changed when this one afternoon I was walking back from the laundromat. I was casually walking on the sidewalk on the main road, just like I’ve done numerous times.
I look over to my left and out of nowhere this dog comes running out from this shop angrily barking at me and ran straight up to my legs.
I felt something (nose?) touch my leg but I couldn’t see what happened because my bag of laundry was blocking my view. I said “HEY” and shoo’d it away.
Did it try to specifically bite me? I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter.
That moment it was if I had been betrayed.
Everything changed.
These are no harmless dogs that just do their own thing and won’t interact with you.
These things will turn and attack at the blink of an eye for absolutely zero reason.
Sure, not every dog is like that, but all it takes is one instance to break your trust.
From here on, my attitude toward them changed.
But my interactions with them didn’t stop, in fact, it’s felt like I’ve had MORE interactions with them.
- One run to the gym at this one corner, there was this little black dog in a driveway. He saw me approach and started barking, marking his territory. He was alone so he didn’t approach me, but I kept an eye on him as I ran past. I just kept running and he eventually stopped barking.
Getting Surrounded
This week, I was running back from the gym and approached the same corner with the driveway I saw that black dog bark at me. But this time, there was a pack of 3 others.
I was still super far away, but immediately as I got in view of them, the black dog started barking. Another dog joined in barking at me, AND THEN THEY START APPROACHING ME.
Within a couple seconds they had gotten in the way of me passing by (off to the right). I literally had to go through them in order to proceed on this back street.
I started saying “HEY. HEY.” as they got closer.
I stopped running and started walking carefully, phone in one hand, water bottle in the other ready to swing.
They had surrounded me, one dog on either side, barking and getting close to my legs.
I kept walking, shoo’ing them and kicking out my feet, until I had gotten past that driveway.
I started running again when I looked down and the black dog was still super close to my legs. I said “HEY” and kicked out my leg.
Then this other significantly bigger dog came up and start biting at the black dog (as if he was on my team?) but then started approaching me (nope not on my team).
I shoo’d it off and at this point had passed the driveway that they all went back to “their territory.”
“What the f*ck” I thought.
What is going on???
Another run to the gym, there was this dog standing in the street.
He looked at me, mouth partially open, looking like he was smiling.
I moved to the other side to create some distance just in case.
I thought, “aww he’s a nice dog,” keeping a pleasant facial expression to not incite anything.
When I got within ~15 feet, he started jogging across the street directly towards me.
Immediately my tone shifted.
“No. No. HEY. HEY”
He got close to my legs as I kept running. It looked like he was looking for an angle to go in for a strike.
I reached down and swung my water bottle at him and he backed away.
“What the f*ck is going on with these dogs, man?” I thought.
The Anxiety
I don’t know if I’ve changed or if it’s just (un)lucky, but it’s felt like this has been occurring more and more often.
I’m now quite anxious around every dog I see. I’ve lost my trust.
This summer I got 2 vaccine shots for rabies, but my understanding is that:
1. pretty much every dog here has rabies
2. getting rabies is basically 100% death, but is treatable
3. even with a vaccination, the treatment is a pain in the a** (it’s like daily shots for 3 weeks or something?)
In any case, I really don’t want to deal with ANY of that.
Like I said, I was under the impression that the dogs were just “background NPCs” that just did their own thing, but apparently that’s not the case, particularly in a pack.
Every dog I come across I’ve been eyeing up, mentally preparing how I’d defend myself. It’s definitely not a healthy reaction, but I’m not sure what else to do.
The Sign?
What this HAS forced me to learn is how to be more aggressive.
I hesitate to use generalization statements, but I’ve traditionally been more of an agreeable (maybe you could say “pushover”) type of person.
It’s as if in life, things happen TO me. I don’t MAKE things happen.
And so I’ve been slowly learning to be more confident, to be more disagreeable, to integrate my shadow, to be more aggressive.
In fact, this is not a new idea I’ve been thinking about recently. I wrote about this exact thing at the bottom of this post from over a year ago My Pipes Froze: Winter Van Life Panic (November 20, 2022).
I unfortunately can’t prove this with data, but it’s felt like my testosterone has gone up in the past 6 weeks since being here in Bali. It’s felt like I’ve gotten more confident.
So, if we zoom out, maybe these dogs are just a manifestation of learning to express confidence, aggression, and boundaries.
And so just as long as we keep it this way, I’m grateful for that as an opportunity.
Thoughts On Diet, Food, And Routine
I started reading Don’t Die by Bryan Johnson this week (it’s free on Kindle btw) and it’s been really thought-provoking.
I liked this video from this week. I think it encapsulated my thoughts on routine, diet, and Bryan Johnson’s book really well:
- The dream of having a full-time travel planner
- The decision fatigue of planning travels
- The types of meals I see people eating at the hostel
- Taking advice from people with different value systems
- Questioning why people don’t prioritize sleep and diet more
I haven’t quite been able to synthesize my thoughts on his book yet. Sometimes I feel like I’m not smart enough to understand some of these ideas, but I’ve been really enjoying it so far.
Also, my stomach has been acting kinda off the latter half of this week. I’m not quite sure why, but it does make me think of how different things would be if I just ate the same thing over and over every day (like Bryan Johnson). I’d never have to deal with this…
Interesting Content From The Week
My Ex-Fiancée Sued Me For $9,000,000 (from Bryan Johnson) – the way he handled this entire situation is really impressive and inspiring.
Jordan Peterson: “There was plenty of motivation to take me out. It just didn’t work” | British GQ – rewatched this because I heard JBP say in a (new) podcast that your harshest critics sometimes are your biggest opportunities. That the 2 hardest/harshest interviews he’s had have done the most good for him.
How to Know If You’re Ready to Marry Someone | Jordan B Peterson (from Jordan Peterson) – “Get to know someone long enough to know that you two can 1. tell the truth with each other 2. communicate and 3. negotiate. The most important part of a relationship is the fact that you can tell each other the truth and negotiate.” Roger that.
It Took Me 40 Years To Think This Through (from Jordan Peterson) – drawing the link between the story of Cain and Abel with society (and individuals) today. I had to listen to this twice, wow, that was interesting.
Rick Rubin: How to Access Your Creativity (from Andrew Huberman) – only ~1/3 through so far, but some quotes I liked:
- “Most people don’t actually know what they like. They like what they like because of the certainty of the people they like.” – Huberman
- “A superpower of artists is accepting not knowing things. When we think we know things It limits our world.” – Rubin
Everything’s Changing – Life Update (from Ali Abdaal) – I skipped through most of this, but I ended up watching most of the 2nd half. I really love these raw-style videos – I mentioned this before. I feel like there’s a growing desire for these kinds of videos (as a swing back from the super edited, algorithmic-oriented videos YouTube has moved towards). That’s at least my hypothesis. Here’s what I’m doing about it: https://www.youtube.com/@petermeglis
A Thought On Advice
But one other note here. He casually mentioned towards the end that as he recorded the audiobook version of his book, he felt proud of it, but that there were some parts at the end of the book where he said he needed to take his own advice. He noted that it’s easier to give advice to other people than give advice to yourself.
I totally agree with that last part, but hearing this made me stop and think wait… You’re telling me you wrote an entire book and you don’t practice what you preach? Doesn’t that undermine the entire premise?
Like isn’t that a big deal?
It reminded me of what I heard Alex Hormozi talk about when he wrote his book(s). I can’t remember his exact phrasing, but he noted how too many authors nowadays are writing books just to write books, or to get on the New York Times bestseller list, etc.
Alex was instead writing to “add to the body of knowledge.”
He wrote something like 19 FULL front-to-back versions of his book before he settled on the final version. He spent something like 2,000 hours writing it and wrote until there was not a single sentence that could be removed. That level of quality absolutely shows in how value-packed both of his books are.
And it reminded me of my conversation with the Czech girl here 2 weeks ago when she talked about how there’s a negative connotation towards life coaches on social media because she’s seen some and they don’t practice what they preach.
I haven’t thought any more about this, I just thought it was an interesting contrast. There’s obviously no right or wrong way to do things.
A Message To My YouTube Subscribers
For those that watch my YouTube videos, I’m sorry about the wind noise and drop in quality. I realized this phone’s mic pics up a lot more wind than my Pixel 6. I thought my Pixel 6 Pro videos were pretty basic, hah! 😅
That said, I would rather show up with crappy quality videos than not show up at all.
I’ll get a new phone at some point, I just don’t know quite when.
Until then, thank you for sticking with me 💪